Trump threatens sanctions, mulls envoy visit to Russia
Speaking to reporters on Sunday, Trump said Witkoff "may be going" on Wednesday or Thursday.
He has warned of sanctions if Russian President Vladimir Putin does not agree to a deal, saying "There will be sanctions, but they seem to be pretty good at avoiding sanctions." He added, "We'll see what happens."
The sanctions could be applied to imports from countries that buy Russian products.
Putin has said he will not agree to a deal unless Moscow's demands are met.
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Japan Times
16 minutes ago
- Japan Times
With federal funds frozen, wealthy U.S. universities capitulate to Washington
As a growing number of the wealthiest U.S. colleges capitulate in their battles with the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump, the strain from lost and frozen federal funding is putting pressure on the remaining holdouts to cut a deal. Universities targeted by Trump's crackdown on diversity programs and other policies he says show a liberal bias are essentially bleeding at the negotiating table after taking on debt, laying off hundreds of staff and slashing spending. As the fall semester approaches, they may be increasingly eager to ink accords that will stanch the flow. Cornell and Northwestern, both of which announced steps to address major budget shortfalls this year after the federal government suspended research funds, are now close to agreements with the White House. Brown, Columbia and the University of Pennsylvania reached accords over the past month. But amid those settlements, new universities are being targeted. Most recently, the University of California at Los Angeles and Duke joined Harvard, Northwestern, Princeton and others in losing access to federal grants that are the financial lifeblood of large research institutions. It all adds up to an unprecedented pressure campaign that's roiling the world of higher education, reverberating through faculty, student and alumni groups and clouding the outlook for the type of medical and scientific research that takes place at the colleges. The multitrillion-dollar tax law signed last month also hikes the tax on income from endowments for some of the wealthiest private schools. As the Trump administration gains leverage, colleges' bruised budgets could drive them toward making agreements quicker. "It seems like they want to get deals done now,' said Brendan Cantwell, a professor at Michigan State University who focuses on the political economy of higher education. "It's almost like a dam is broken. I would not be at all surprised if we saw a cascading set of agreements.' The Harvard University campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on July 2 | Sophie Park / The New York Times Federal funding has been used as a cudgel by the Trump administration, which has criticized what it says is a failure by academic institutions to crack down on antisemitism during campus protests over Israel's war in Gaza. The moves also come amid a broader campaign against diversity efforts and accusations of political bias. The fallout has already started. Northwestern said it would cut more than 400 jobs to save 5% on labor costs, with university officials calling the past few months some of the most difficult in its 174-year history. The Trump administration in April paused $790 million in research funding for the Evanston, Illinois-based school because of claimed potential civil rights violations. At Cornell, leaders in June warned that drastic financial austerity measures were on the table after hundreds of millions of dollars in federal research contracts were terminated or frozen. "The spring semester was unlike anything ever seen in higher education,' they wrote in a letter to students and staff. "We have been using institutional resources to try to plug these funding holes in the short term, but these interim measures are not sustainable.' Late last month, the government froze $108 million in research funding to Duke University, or about 20% of its federal revenue, three Trump administration officials said. Duke is in talks with government officials on a settlement, according to an administration official. Duke's press office didn't provide a comment on the funding loss or the status of government talks. A Duke official, who asked not to be identified discussing internal deliberations, said the school is reconsidering its budget amid the funding loss, but that it hopes an end to the freeze will come soon. Cornell and Northwestern have declined to comment on any settlement talks. On July 23, Columbia University agreed to pay $221 million in a deal that was promptly criticized for infringing on academic freedom at the school. Brown announced a deal on July 30, agreeing to give $50 million over 10 years to workforce development organizations in its home state of Rhode Island in exchange for the reimbursement of at least $50 million in unpaid federal grants. Shortly before reaching the deal, Brown took out a $500 million loan — a sign of how strained the school's finances had become. Brown, the least wealthy of the Ivy League schools with an endowment of $7.2 billion, had previously warned in June of "significant' cost-cutting measures to offset the federal funding. U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington on July 30 | REUTERS The Trump administration's higher-education crackdown has exposed just how dependent some of the elite, research-focused universities are on the government. They're essentially "major federal contractors' and stopping the stream would be catastrophic for many of them, according to Cantwell. "Think about Booz Allen or Raytheon,' Cantwell said. "If they said, 'All your federal funding will be frozen for 9 months,' you can imagine how those firms might react.' The Trump administration has dealt a harsher financial blow to Harvard than any other university in its crosshairs, freezing billions of multiyear research grants and contracts. The school estimates that the moves by the administration, as well as the endowment tax increase, will cost about $1 billion annually. Harvard's Kennedy School already cut staff. "The unprecedented challenges we face have led to disruptive changes, painful layoffs, and ongoing uncertainty about the future,' Harvard President Alan M. Garber said in a letter to the campus. Garber has told faculty that a settlement with the government isn't imminent and the university is considering resolving its dispute through the courts, the Harvard Crimson reported Monday. Larry Ladd, who served as Harvard's budget director and now advises schools at the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges, said he can't criticize any college for coming to a deal with the Trump administration given what's at stake for their campuses. "Schools are likely facing pressure to use endowment and tuition revenue, which are typically used to support students, to support some of their research enterprise instead,' Ladd said. "They don't want to do that because they want to continue to support students. There's that pressure as well.' Lynn Pasquerella, president of the American Association of Colleges and Universities, said campus leaders are being put in an "untenable position' and worries that federal funds will continue to be weaponized by the Trump administration, even if schools make deals. "The concern is the more we capitulate through making these agreements, the more the administration will be empowered to continue along these lines,' she said.
Japan Times
an hour ago
- Japan Times
'Not a normal person': Ishiba shoots from the hip when it comes to Trump
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has found himself in a unique position in Japan's staid political world. As he fights for his political survival, Ishiba — known for being a straight shooter — is calling things as he sees them. On Monday, he offered his views of U.S. President Donald Trump and the American leader's negotiating tactics — colorful comments that were unusual for their candor but not widely reported in Japan. '(Trump) is not a normal person. He's someone who changes the rules,' Ishiba said in response to demands in parliament by opposition parties that the government draft a formal document to put in writing the recent trade deal Japan sealed with the U.S. that lowers onerous tariffs. 'We are most concerned that creating such a document will delay the reduction of tariffs,' he added. Although Ishiba's comments did not appear to be a criticism, it is extremely unusual for a sitting prime minister to publicly speak about the leader of the United States, Japan's top ally, in a manner that could be construed as such. Japan is a top economic and security partner with the United States and hosts some 55,000 American troops that serve as a bulwark against rivals such as China. While Japanese leaders have at times been known to be critical of their U.S. counterparts, these views have almost universally been kept under wraps by officials working to keep relations on an even keel. It was not immediately clear what Trump had thought of the remarks, or if he even knew of them. In the past, however, the mercurial U.S. president has relished being labeled as America's 'dealmaker-in-chief.' As he fends off demands to resign, Ishiba may feel that he has little to lose in shooting from the hip, especially when it comes to Japan's trade interests. The prime minister has been targeted by some in his ruling Liberal Democratic Party for its thumping in the July 20 Upper House election. That loss saw the LDP and Komeito bloc lose their majority in the upper chamber following the October loss of its majority under Ishiba's leadership in a Lower House poll. Although calls for his head have grown steadily quieter in recent days, Ishiba has continued to justify the necessity for him to stay at the country's helm by claiming that he must shepherd the U.S. trade deal through to implementation. Trump, for his part, has largely moved on from Japan after his dramatic announcement of the trade deal to focus on other headline-grabbing issues such as the war in Ukraine. Still, Ishiba's remarks — as well as his administration's insistence that Trump quickly sign an executive order to bring an agreed-to 15% tariff rate on automobiles into effect — have the potential to become an irritant for the notoriously thin-skinned U.S. president. Japan's top tariff negotiator, Ryosei Akazawa, was set to visit Washington from Tuesday to push for more details on the deal. A perhaps more likely scenario, however, is that Trump simply views Ishiba and his team as savvy and tough negotiators. Indeed, this is not the first time that the prime minister has had harsh words for the U.S. side. At an election rally on July 9, Ishiba delivered a fiery rebuke of Trump's trade demands, framing the tariff talks as 'a battle for national interests.' 'We will not be disrespected,' he said, in comments that raised eyebrows in Japan. 'We must say what we need to say, fairly and squarely, even to our ally.'
The Diplomat
an hour ago
- The Diplomat
Malaysia Agreed to $150B in Purchases as Part of US Tariff Deal: Minister
Despite the White House's release of updated tariff figures last week, there is much still to be negotiated between Washington and its trade partners. Late last week, U.S. President Donald Trump announced updated tariff rates for 67 nations, including nine from Southeast Asia, which are set to come into effect on August 7. However, given the unpredictability of the Trump administration and the speed of the negotiations that preceded last week's announcement, there is a lot that we don't know about these figures, and how they will affect each nation's trade with the U.S. For instance, while most Southeast Asian nations succeeded in negotiating a reduction in the tariff rate to around 19-20 percent, it still remains unclear specifically what each agreed to. It is also unclear what exemptions might apply to their major exports to the U.S. and whether other geopolitical conditions may have been slipped into the trade discussions. As James Guild wrote recently for The Diplomat regarding the deals with Indonesia, Vietnam, and the Philippines, which were announced prior to last week's announcement, 'many important details are missing. In fact, many of the countries on the other side of these deals quickly made it known they viewed things a bit differently than President Trump.' Yet, as the days go by, further details are emerging about what each nation put on the table during the rapid trade negotiations with the Trump team. Speaking to parliament yesterday, Malaysia's trade minister offered some details about how his nation managed to secure a reduction in its tariff, from 25 percent to 19 percent. In comments to parliament, Reuters reported that Tengku Zafrul Aziz said that Malaysian negotiators have agreed to spend up to $150 billion over the next five years to buy equipment from U.S. multinationals, in order to address the trade imbalance between the two countries. This includes agreements for state energy firm Petroliam Nasional Berhad to buy liquefied natural gas worth $3.4 billion a year. As Reuters reported, Malaysia 'will also commit to $70 billion in cross-border investments in the United States over the next five years.' He confirmed that Malaysia had also agreed to remove its tariffs on more than 98 percent of U.S. goods. Last year, Malaysia had a trade surplus of around $24.9 billion with the U.S., according to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. Tengku Zafrul said that the two countries were finalizing a joint statement covering the commitments that had been made, which also included tariff exemptions that Malaysia managed to secure on its pharmaceutical products and semiconductor exports to the U.S. In his address to parliament, the minister warned that semiconductor chips may still be subject to additional tariffs under U.S. tariffs on the grounds of national security. 'Therefore, we need to continue to be prepared for any possible additional tariffs imposed on the semiconductor industry,' he said. He added that the country was seeking similar exemptions for important raw materials, including cocoa, rubber, and palm oil, but that these had not yet been finalized. While Tengku Zafrul's comments bring some clarity to Malaysia's situation, it also highlights the challenge of negotiating trade agreements, which often take years of negotiations, on such a short time scale. Another area of considerable uncertainty that has been kicked down the road involves transshipped goods. Trump's tariff announcement included a blanket 40 percent tariff on any goods deemed to have originated in China. Like much else, it is still unclear how (and by whom) the provenance of goods will be established and verified. Lurking behind the uncertainty about the specifics of the deal, there is the larger uncertainty about whether the tariffs will even be in place in a month, a year, or a decade's time. One writer in Free Malaysia Today argued today that Malaysian policymakers should not panic, assuming that the tariffs are 'an assertive, yet unstable, use of executive power' that might not last. 'The current tariff wave is not a permanent reordering of trade architecture,' the op-ed argued, 'it is a phase of legal and political experimentation.' As such, the article argued that Malaysia should avoid making knee-jerk concessions to Trump. However long the tariffs are in effect, the short-term 'wins' that Trump has secured through the brute leveraging of U.S. economic power will likely be outweighed by the long-term drain of U.S. influence, as Southeast Asian governments seek out more predictable and 'like-minded' trade partners.
